Grand Prairie, TX (April 27, 2002) - Day two of the EXPN Invitational at GPX Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, TX concluded with suntanned faces, three new X Games VIII-bound athletes and an ideal set-up for tomorrow's final day of competition. The EXPN Invitational, formerly known as B3 - Bikes, Boards and Blades, is a two-stop competition organized and televised by ESPN. The event features more than 250 athletes from around the world competing in Aggressive In-Line Skating, Bicycle Stunt and Skateboarding. In addition to competing for medals and more than $200,000 in prize money, athletes are vying for an open invitation to X Games VIII, the world's premier action sports competition, to be held August 15-19 in Philadelphia, Pa.

Today's event brought 7,100 spectators to GPX Lone Star Park to watch their favorite action sports athletes compete in Bicycle Stunt Flatland, Men and Women's Aggressive In-Line Park, Skateboard Park and Aggressive In-Line Vert. Bicycle Stunt Vert, which was scheduled to run today, is postponed until tomorrow, due to high winds.

Bicycle Stunt Flatland kicked off the day's events, with a tight competition amongst all ten finalists. But it was Trevor Meyer of Chaska, Minn. who took home the gold and $10,000 in cash. His final trick of the day - the pedaling death truck into his signature move, the pedaling dump truck - clinched first place for the Flatland rider who holds the most wins ever in the sport. It was a tie for second place, but tiebreaker rules determined that Michael Steingraber of Hamburg, Germany won silver and York Uno of Ishikawa, Japan won bronze. Because Meyer already had an invitation to X Games VIII, Steingraber took the open invitation spot and will make the trip to Philadelphia in August.

The Women's Aggressive In-Line Park final was dominated by perhaps the world's most popular Aggressive In-Line athlete ever, Fabiola da Silva, who earned the gold with a 12.5 point lead over second place finisher Jenna Downing of South Yorkshire, England. The event's Lone Star State representative, Deborah West of Plano, won bronze with her signature "go big or go home" moves including back-to-back alley oop topsides in her final run.

The Skateboard Park finals crowd was standing room only as some of the best street skaters in the world competed for a coveted X Games VIII invitation. In the end, it was Carlos de Andrade from Curitiba, Brazil who will head to Philadelphia. His first run of the day earned him a score of 94.33, which was nearly 12 points higher than the silver medallist. "I am very excited that I qualified for the X Games," said an elated de Andrade. Apart from de Andrade, there were only nine points separating second place and tenth place, illustrating the depth of the field's talent. Placing second was 17-year old Kyle Berard of Virginia Beach, VA, who proved he's fully recovered from a life-threatening car accident last year. Bronze medallist is Pat Channita of Garden Grove, CA. Both Berard and Channita are already qualified for X Games VIII from World Cup's 2001 Skateboard Street rankings.

The Aggressive In-Line Vert finals rounded out the day's events with an international field taking all three podium spots. Japanese superstars, and brothers, Eito and Takeshi Yasutoko grabbed the gold and silver respectively, with tricks that wowed the crowd. Eito clinched the gold with a delayed flat spin-style 1080 and finished up his run with a fakie 900. Both Yasutoko brothers previously qualified for the X Games, which allowed bronze medallist Sven Boekhorst of Den Bosch Holland to take home an invitation to X Games VIII. The competition's only female competitor, Fabiola da Silva, placed a strong sixth place.

Sunday's action continues with Bicycle Stunt Vert Finals at 10:30 am; Men's Aggressive In-Line Park Finals at 12 pm; Skateboarding Vert Finals at 3 pm; and Bicycle Stunt Park Finals at 4:30 pm. Doors open to the public at 10 am. In addition to world-class competition, spectators can also enjoy the interactive village, which includes a climbing wall, body airbrushing, athlete autograph signings and more. The EXPN Invitational is free and open to the public.

The second EXPN Invitational will be held in Gwinnett County, Ga. May 17-19. Both events will be televised on ESPN and ESPN2 beginning in June.

The EXPN Invitational venue is at the GPX Skatepark and Entertainment Center. GPX, Lone Star Park's outdoor skate park, with funding from the City of Grand Prairie, includes an intermediate/advanced course, a beginner's course, a world-class vert ramp and an in-line hockey rink. More information can be found at www.gpxsk8.com.

ESPN, the worldwide leader in action sports, first developed its X Games franchise in 1995. The X Games, Winter X Games, EXPN 2Day, Tony Hawk's Gigantic Skatepark Tour and EXPN Invitational events are just some of the original action sports programming currently shown on ESPN and ESPN2.

Event schedules, results, on-going coverage, telecast schedule, photos and video of the EXPN Invitational can be found on www.expn.com.

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ATTN MEDIA: Photos from the EXPN Invitational can be downloaded for editorial use on www.espneventmedia.com. Results are also available on the site.
Click Here for the complete Results.
Contact: Katie Moses, ESPN, 267-971-8250 or katie.moses@espn.com.

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